Israeli Gov. Is Now Cool With Vaping Hash Oil In Public, Sort Of

The list of countries pulling ahead of the US when it comes to weed progressivism is getting longer by the week. Already, there’s Uruguay, Canada, the Netherlands, and North Korea (!), among others. And now Israel is skipping way ahead of the “Land of the Free” with a law that actually says it’s okay for medical marijuana patients to vaporize their hash oil in public, with a few qualifications.

New directives issued by the country’s Health Ministry ease up medical marijuana restrictions in a number of ways, including allowing for public consumption of cannabis oil, as reported by Haaretz.

Under the new laws, certified medical marijuana patients can now vape their concentrates any old place, as long as that place has not specifically prohibited vaping and as long as there’s nobody else around. Of course, anyone in any country can vape weed if there’s no one else around, but in Israel it’s now actually the law. This new vape permissiveness will, unsurprisingly, not pertain to schools, airports, or other places where kids are hanging out or where people operate heavy machinery or public transportation.

The new freedom also applies to people administering cannabis oil orally or dropping it on food, but not to smoking cannabis flowers. Yuval Landschaft, the head of the Health Ministry’s cannabis unit, told Haaretz he felt that, “In smoking, even cannabis, other combustible materials are involved and the results of the burning can harm others.”

Until recently in Israel, the possession and use of cannabis products, including oil, was only allowed by medical marijuana patients in the address listed on their permit, which meant they could only use medical marijuana legally in their home, and then only when there was no one else present. This was especially burdensome for patients who travelled or changed their address. They then had to register the change of address with the government before they could start legally using again.

“We felt that a lot of bureaucracy was created over nothing,” said Landschaft.